Karl Stevens + Raul Gonzalez: Two Artists and Their Books

December 1, 2014

Suffolk University Gallery presents Karl Stevens + Raul Gonzalez, Two Artists and Their Books: The Lodger and Lowriders in Space from Dec. 4, 2014, to Jan. 25, 2015.

Both Stevens and Gonzalez straddle a range of influences – illustration, graffiti, comic books, as well as nods to the history of painting, and this exhibition focuses on original drawings and paintings from their respective books.

Stevens, formerly an award-winning Boston Phoenix cartoonist, drew from that experience in creating his book, The Lodger. The book was described in a Time magazine review as"so carefully and convincingly drawn from life that it’s tempting to assume the whole thing is real. ... It would be a pretty straightforward slice-of-youthful-life strip, except for Stevens’ artwork, which is rendered with fanatical care, just about as realistically as it’s possible to do freehand." Stevens' Phoenix strip was titled Failure, and another previous work was Succe$$.

Gonzalez’s first graphic novel is Lowriders in Space, co-created with writer Cathy Camper. A New York Timesreview calls it "a fanciful story wonderfully illustrated by Raúl the Third’s black, red and blue comic-book-style drawings."

Meet the artists

A gallery talk with the artists will take place at 4 p.m. Dec. 4, with a reception and book signing to follow from 5 -7 p.m.

The gallery is free and open to the public 8:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Monday – Friday; noon – 5 p.m. Saturday – Sunday. After 7 p.m. and on weekends enter thru main lobby at 10 Saint James Ave. Closed on university holidays.